1998 (WOD)
Events * The 39th official meeting of the Camarilla's Inner Circle. Justicars are Jaroslav Pascek (Brujah), Maris Streck (Malkavian), Cock Robin (Nosferatu), Madame Guil (Toreador), Anastasz Di Zagreb (Tremere), and Lucinde (Ventrue). All Justicars except Madame Guil are new. * Xaviar, Justicar of the Gangrel, encounters an entity he believes to be an Antediluvian. The Inner Circle dismisses his claim. Rather than stand for reelection at the Conclave, Xaviar utters a single sentence and leaves the Camarilla, taking the Gangrel with him. Note: Several later sources, most prominently the Clan Novel Saga, move the time frame of this action from 1998 to 1999. * Ramona is Embraced by Tanner during the events surrounding the Eye of Hazimel. * The Garou of Russia hunt and destroy many of the agents of Baba Yaga, noticing that her structure and allies seem to be disappearing. Baba Yaga is destroyed by persons unknown to the Garou. The Shadow Curtain crashes down, reuniting the Russian werewolves with the rest of the Garou Nation. * Zhyzhak and other Black Spiral Dancers capture Darius Quiet-Moon's caern. Bleeding-Eyes dies in the battle. Zhyzhak kills Darius herself, and later kills Pirog when he challenges her. * In Tanzania, Kisasi of the Ajaba manages to convince Kucha Ekundu Red Talons to aid her people in battle against Black Tooth. Ahadi forms. * In late 1998, Bennu becomes the first Silent Strider to contact ancestors since the Diaspora. * Magadon, Incorporated's market share is at 22.5%, making it one of the three largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. With its recent takeover of Aesop Research Company and the upcoming merger Autumn Health Management Systems, Magadon may be the dominant health care provider by the end of the next decade. * Nightshade passes on and Charlotte Quay takes the Seat of Life on the Horizon Council. * The wraith of the Antediluvian Cappadocius emerges from the Tempest, transformed into an angry spectre that haunts the last descendants of the Conspiracy of Isaac. He is laid to rest in Boston thanks to a ritual conducted by the surviving Children of Isaac. * In the summer, the Seer is discovered in the Digital Web. * A terrible War in Heaven culminates with the destruction of Concordia and the death of many Tradition Archmages, including the famous Porthos Fitz-Empress. Tradition leadership staggers as most of their mages and council members are killed, including Master Hyemyŏng Sŭnim. * India conducts nuclear tests, quickly followed by Pakistan. * The UN supervises elections in Cambodia. * On the eve of their strike against the followers of the Centipede, Asian currencies collapse, striking at the root of the Golden Dragon Society's power. Followed by the revelation of bank and state corruption, Japan is thrown into a recession. The Golden Dragon Society jettisons the remaining corporate power structure and returns to a focus on organized crime. A unified effort keeps the Elemental Dragons from bankruptcy. * This summer the accidental release of Chinese nerve gas kills three villagers and a regiment of Chinese soldiers. From this point, dark entities prowl the dreamscapes of Tibet. * The Akashic Brotherhood sends a Vajrapani, Marie Rowlands, to watch Mitchell Pratts. * Operative Simon Pain of Diversified Operations Amalgam 3 is caught in a crossfire between a Chorister choir and a Nephandic cult. He finds his technology does not work, and so he prays, warding off a monstrosity with holy fire. His Amalgam reports him killed in action, and Pain joins the Chorus. * Dr. Maria Lockney founds the Disciples of the One Point. * The Computer orders Department 37 to cease its investigations into dangerous internal programs receiving Technocracy support. * George Carreau purchases a beautiful but mentally retarded 14-year-old Thai girl from a corrupt Asian businessman. * Jedediah Baker completes his apprenticeship with the Nephite Priesthood and is allowed to minister to the flock as a Priest. * Niki Yemana has fully Awakened and can pilot her stone disk through impossible maneuvers while she stands or sits atop it. * Kararoshi returns to Peru to make sense of who he is, but is sidetracked when his Ether-meters go off the scale while visiting the plains of Nazca. January * Gabriel Van der Linden and his pack of fellow Cyber Dogs return from a journey to Belgium sporting impossibly complex cybernetics. This begins a significant increase in Cyber Dog numbers as Glass Walkers joined this revolutionary group. * The Nine Fires, investigating a ritual abuse cult, tips its hand by punishing a clique of sorcerers they feel are in charge. Their actions alert the true cult leader, Herr Flax. * January 10: An unnamed mage sitting in the Majestic Café helps out a newly-Awakened young woman. February * A Cyberpunk discovers a back door to an Iteration X mainframe at NORAD and lifts 20 gigabytes of data before they trace him. * After a Core War, a Virtual Adept begins tripping off virus scanners wherever he goes despite being run through every known virus scrubber. April * Virtual Adept H0usefly, while parsing February's Iteration X download, realizes after checking his clocks that every time he hears the name of Alan Turing spoken aloud, all related information is wiped from his memory, and so he repeats the same segment over and over again. The mnemonovirus is dubbed the Turin Virus. May * May 7: Cornelius Balt discusses how the Umbrood react to magic with Xadreque Machado. * May 12: India tests its first nuclear weapons. The tests fall under the scrutiny of the Yama King Ravana, who hopes to use them for his own designs. * May 18: Xadreque Machado offers Cornelius Balt a Technocratic perspective on interactions with the Umbrood. June * June 2: The Shigalu Monastery falls in a vicious and unexpected attack by forces of the Wyrm. * June 18: Ozymandias Cody gets a call from Zydeco Jones. Petrus is gone; he stepped through a portal to Crete and never arrived. She claims this happened three days after Doissetep fell. She tried to use the car in the usual way, jumping it through the Gauntlet, but it nearly killed her. The oldest dhampyr in existence, Jin Kai Wai of the Blood Court, is visited by a mysterious stranger who reveals the truth about the children of the Wan Xian to him. July * In mid-July the Jackal Fever sweeps through urban Egypt, killing many of its poor. The disease also – peculiarly enough – afflicts Garou, though not fatally. The Ratkin are also afflicted, although their illness follows a cyclic pattern with weeks of normalcy, unlike the constant suffering of the Garou. * The plague kills many people and causes an intense craving for flesh, leading some Garou (mostly Bone Gnawers to commit cannibalism before they recover. Some Garou grow accustomed to eating human flesh and continue to do so after the plague ends. Meat Pudding is one of the most prominent cannibals, and he begins to encourage others to do so as well. References Category:World of Darkness timeline